Dublin Airport operator daa group recorded a profit before exceptional items of €98 million in 2022, marking a turnaround from "cumulative daa group losses" of €387 million over the 2020-21 period.
Turnover for daa, which includes Cork Airport, Aer Rianta International (ARI) and daa International (daaI) in its operations came $752 million in 2022, up from €324 million in the previous year.
The group spent €158 million in capital expenditure in 2022, including €156 million on Dublin and Cork airports and €2 million in its international businesses, which are across 15 countries and include the winning in 2022 of "a major contract to operate duty-free and duty-paid retail concessions at eight airports in Portugal" and "a five-year contract to support, manage and advise on operations, aviation business development, non-aeronautical revenue and facilities management at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah".
Passenger numbers at Dublin and Cork airports came to 30.3 million in 2022, an 85% recovery weighed against 2019, with 28.1 million of the passengers using Dublin.
"2022 was a challenging year for everyone in the global aviation sector, including daa, due to the sudden surge in demand for international travel following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions," said daa chief executive Kenny Jacobs.
"As has been well documented, there were a number of key shortcomings with respect to the standards and service quality at Dublin Airport during the first half of 2022 but we recovered well and have enjoyed nine months of stability since," Jacobs added, praising "the hard work and commitment" of the daa team.
"As we look ahead to the busy summer, our full focus is on ensuring the operation at Dublin Airport is appropriately resourced, while our recently announced 15-point improvement plan will bring better standards for all of our customers", Jacobs said.
"At Cork Airport, the country’s second biggest airport, passenger numbers continue to grow and are now consistently above 2019 levels on a monthly basis," the chief executive concluded.